


Always

by SarcasmSays



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Dark Room Spoilers, F/F, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Not really but its implied, Polarized never happened, Strangulation tw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-15
Updated: 2016-08-15
Packaged: 2018-08-08 20:17:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7771696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SarcasmSays/pseuds/SarcasmSays
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Your name is Victoria Chase and you are the first to realize that Maxine Caulfield is missing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It's two days after the End of the World party when you realize it.

You haven't seen Max since the party. Her strange behavior that night strikes a fear in you and you start pounding on all of the dorm doors, asking the same question: "Have you seen Max since the party?"

All you get are concerned or confused looks with a hesitant 'no'.

You call the police.

* * *

 

Maxine Caulfield is reported missing and the school goes on lock down when Chloe Price, a former student and Max's best friend, is also reported missing.

Price's truck is found in the junk yard two days later. So is her body and the rotten remains of Rachel Amber.

There's no sign of Max.

You cry because you have a bad feeling twisting in your gut but you refuse to think Max went down without a fight.

(You're praying to a higher being that you don't believe in that she's still alive.)

\-----

Kate comes back to school and holds prayer meetings when she isn't being questioned by cops.

You attend every meeting and grip her hand a little tighter each time.

There's a vigil opposite your dorm door when you get back from the latest meeting and you add your own little message to Max's whiteboard.

'Come back.' You write. 'I miss you.' You erase.

* * *

 

Three days after Max is reported missing, Nathan is arrested.

You later find out he had been one of the last people to see Max.

You also find out that she had been asking people in the party about Nathan and that everyone she asked said that Max seemed tense and nervous, but that she looked like a woman on a mission.

Nathan is arrested for the murders of Rachel Amber and Chloe Price and the suspected kidnapping of Maxine Caulfield.

You don't listen to him when he screams and begs for you to listen, that he didn't do it.

You say, "I don't listen to murderers," as he's being pulled off you.

Dana manages to punch him in the face and Alyssa manages a well placed kick. Everyone else screams insults as you watch Nathan Prescott get shoved into a police car.

You wonder if you were next.

\-----

A week after Max is reported missing, you go to a funeral for a girl you thought you hated and a girl you didn't know.

You stare at the pictures of Chloe with Rachel and Chloe with Max. 

You want to scream.

And you do, after you tear through yellow tape and stand on 'Keep Calm and Carry On'. You scream through hipster music and you scream at the pictures over the bed.

You scream until it hurts and keep screaming still.

* * *

 

Nathan confesses a month after Max goes missing.

Jefferson is arrested for drugging and kidnapping girls.

While Nathan screamed and begged, Jefferson is the epitome of calm, cool, and collected. He even has a smug smirk.

The cops don't stop anyone from attacking Jefferson. They add their own insults and shove a little too hard.

You nearly break your hand on his smug face.

"You were next." He says, dark eyes on you and blood spilling from his mouth. The crowd quiets at his evil smile. "But Maxine being the nosy bitch she is, had to be taken care of first. Who would have known that she had the potential to be a wonderful model as she was a photographer?"

You punch him again and he laughs.

"She was a fighter too!" He roars out and you flinch back at the sight of a monster hiding as a man. "She was so beautiful when she fought and she was so desperate to live!"

The cops pull him from the horrified crowd but Jefferson continues to laugh, his gaze never breaking from yours.

Ryan Caulfield comes charging through the crowd then. Fury covers the once kind face and his eyes scream murder, a yell of grief and rage as he yanks Jefferson away from the cops.

"Where's my daughter?!" The bear of a man throws Jefferson like he is nothing and the cops start to finger their guns.

"Where's my daughter?!" Your eyes tear up at Ryan Caulfield's pain but you don't look away as he starts to cry as he shakes Jefferson. You don't look away when Vanessa Caulfield falls to her knees behind her husband.

Jefferson grins. "Dead."

* * *

 

Nathan reveals the location of a bunker and everyone swarms to it.

You and Kate are let in with your parents and the Caulfields' are already waiting.

There are dozens of red binders with girls names. Only four stick out to you:

Rachel

Kate

Victoria

Max

Of the four, yours is the only one empty.

You think yours should be the only one filled as two families break down beside you.

Unlike Rachel's, Max's binder doesn't include a burial site.

You cry at her blank looks at the beginning but just like Rachel Amber, Max looks pissed off and spiteful towards the end.

\-----

Max talks to you in your dreams.

She holds you when you cry and says she doesn't blame you, that her only regrets are that she couldn't save Chloe or tell anyone goodbye or that she loved them.

She tells you stories of her and Chloe, of reversing time and alternate realities.

"Could you have loved me?" You ask her once.

"I did love you." She answers and brushes your hair out of your face. "I loved too much."

\-----

You drink until you black out.

Max greets you with a concerned smile and a soft press of her lips against yours.

"Did it hurt?" You slur out, your blurry gaze is strangely clear on the bruises around her neck.

"I don't know." She replies. 

"Were you scared?" You ask instead and lean your head on her shoulder. She's cold and she smells like dirt and something foul. You wrinkle your nose but don't move.

"I think so." She runs her hands through your hair.

"I want to die." You tell her.

"No you don't." Max pulls away and her once clean face is dirty, blue eyes turned gray and milky.

"I do," you sob, "I do."

You wake up.

\-----

"I'm sorry." You say when you see her again.

"No you're not." Max is clean again and her scenery of this dream is the lighthouse.

"I'm not." You agree. You won't act on your wants. You're a pillar of support in the waking world. People rely on you and Kate needs you more than Max does. Max will wait forever for you.

"Let's take some pictures." Max grins at you but her teeth are dirty and rotten.

\-----

"Why do you look different each dream?" You ask her. She's dirty again but her teeth are white and her hands are bloodied and bruised.

"I died in every universe."

"Oh." You say, because you don't know what else to say.

"Mark Jefferson always kills me."

You cry and she holds you and you apologize for her dying.

\-----

"Stop coming here." Max says. Her wrists are bruised and her lip is busted but the bruises on her neck are always what draws your eyes.

"Why?" You ask as you walk across the rooftop of the dorms.

"It's not good for your health to be talking to a dead girl." Max crosses her arms and suddenly she's on the ledge with you.

"I wish you weren't dead." You jump.

"Wishes don't come true." Max tells you as she falls beside you.

"There's so much I never got to tell you."

"Tomorrow is never promised, tell everyone you love that you love them."

You never hit the ground but you follow her advice.

\-----

"Why are we in the junk yard?" You ask.

"It's where we found Rachel and where Chloe died." Max says as she collects bottles. "I'm taking you to important places."

"Why?" You ask again as you follow her to a shallow grave.

"Someone alive needs to know." Max says as she peels back the bag. A rotting head smiles grotesquely back at them. "Hi Max."

"W-What did you just say?" You stutter out.

Max gives you a concerned look. "I said: 'Hi Rachel'."

"Okay." You ignore her concerned looks and try to will yourself awake.

\-----

"If you take me to the important places, why don't you take me to your body? Your parents don't have a body to bury."

"I have." Max tells you. "You just weren't looking."

"What's that supposed to mean?" You ask, you flip through everywhere she has taken you but you don't remember anything besides the junkyard. "The junkyard?" 

"No, that was Rachel and Chloe's spot." The beam of the lighthouse moves over them and Max is back to dirty and milky eyes.

"Then where is  _your_ spot?"

"You aren't looking hard enough." Max tells you again as she steps closer and the light from the lighthouse casts her in shadow. You have to fight down the urge to run away from her.

"I'm sorry." You tell her.

"I know." She says.

\-----

"You have to stop coming here." She says again. She brought you to the lighthouse again but this time for the golden hour.

"Why?" You repeat.

"Talk to living people." Max tells you from the bench.

"I do." You sit next to her, eyeing the mound of dirt under the bench.

"Not enough." Max says and she's looking at you intensely enough to startle you.

"I do." You repeat again and you realize that she doesn't smell of dirt or chemicals for the first time since your dreams started. She smells like oranges and clean laundry.

Like when she was still alive.

She looks normal too, nothing creepy about her appearance.

"Max?" Your voice cracks at the end of her name and you're immediately wrapped up in her warmth and scent. "What...?"

Max doesn't answer but you think that's okay. It's the most at peace you have ever felt.

\-----

Max brings you to the Dark Room and you watch her as she circles a chair. Her bruises are extra dark.

"This was the last thing I remember." Max's voice echos. "Being restrained to the chair and telling Jefferson to 'eat shit and die'. But I'm the one that died."

"Jefferson won't make it in his first year of prison." You say.

"I hope they tell him to 'eat shit and die'." Max grins at you. Her eyes are glazed over and there's blood spilling from her nose.

"I hope so too."

\-----

"Where's my body?" Max asks you.

"I don't know." You say. "I'm sorry."

"I know." Max doesn't sound angry when she leads you over to the steps of the girl dorms. She sits down and pats the space beside her. You sit down and grab her hand.

Max is normal again, smells good again.

"Do you blame me?" You ask. "Do you blame me for you being dead?"

"Never." Max kisses your forehead. "Never."

Max kisses you and you cry.

\-----

You're in the school swimming pool and Max is floating in the middle. You try not to stare as you undress and join her.

"Have you ever been in love?" You ask her.

"I could have been. Have you?"

"I could have been."

Max swim over to you and pushes your hair back from your face.

"I loved too much." Max repeats.

"Enough to take my place?" You trace her lips.

"Enough to stop a murderer." Max closes her eyes as you trace her features and bruises and cuts. "But I never wanted to die."

\-----

"Do you visit anyone else?" 

"No." Max rolls her head to look at you. She looks good again, smells like oranges and clean clothes again.

"Good." You run your fingers through her hair and she smiles up at you, her eyes shining and teeth glinting in the morning sun. The lighthouse is cool against your back and Max's head is warm in your lap.

"Good?" 

"Good." You confirm and you bend down to kiss her. You smile into the kiss and she pulls away with a giddy laugh.

Your eyes linger on the bench and the dirt beneath it.

\-----

"Why do you look normal?" Max brought you back to the rooftop of the girls dorms. It's windy as both of you stand on the ledge.

"Do you want me to look weird?" Max asks.

"No," you say, "but you look normal and smell like you used to." 

Max laughs and brushes hair out of her face as she looks at you. You smile back and cup her jaw.

"I could have loved you Victoria Chase."

"I could have loved you too Maxine Caulfield."

When you kiss her, a big gust of wind pushes you both off the ledge and you land at the lighthouse. 

The bench is nowhere to be found and you look down at where it should be.

"You know where my body is." Max says.

"I do." You say.

You wake up.

* * *

 

Jefferson likes to bury the bodies of the girls he murdered in places that were important to them.

Jefferson makes it five months in prison. The prison guards turn their backs to his screams the same night the police dig up Maxine Caulfields's rotting corpse.

You say that it's perfect timing when you find out and nobody disagrees.

You can't wait to tell Max.

* * *

 

You don't see Max in your dreams for two months and you don't see her in the waking world. 

People are concerned with how much you sleep but you're concerned about the lack of Maxine Caulfield.

You might have gone crazy but you were happy, now you're back to being bitter at being left alone.

\-----

"I'm sorry." Max says.

"Where have you been?" You ask as you breathe in her scent.

"Around." You can feel her grin against your pulse. You shiver.

"I knew it." You laugh and she pulls away to wipe away your tears.

"I love you Victoria Chase."

Your heart stutters as you really start to cry. "I love you too Max Caulfield."

"Join me?" Max asks. "It won't hurt."

You pause and think. You've told her you wanted to die but you don't think you really want to. You still have a lot you want to do.

"Wait for me?" You ask.

"Always." Max grins. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When you die, you die scared and alone.

When you wake up in the Dark Room, you know you won't be leaving alive.

* * *

 

"Stop moving!" Jefferson roars. "Be quiet!"

Gone is the man you looked up to, that everyone looked up to. In his place is a beast with spit flying from its mouth and fangs snapping in your face.

You're scared so you listen.

Jefferson slips back into his skin and takes another picture of your terrified face. He makes a disgusted noise.

"Not good enough." He says.

"Uh oh." Says Rachel.

"Uh oh." Says Chloe.

"I'm sorry!" Whimpers Nathan.

A sharp pain in your neck.

You didn't even have time to beg.

\-----

When you wake up next, Jefferson and Nathan aren't here.

Chloe greets you with her pinkie in her forehead and a goofy grin. 

Rachel is messing with the camera in front of you.

"Am I gonna die?" You slur.

"Maybe." Rachel shrugs.

"Probably." Chloe says. Her pinkie is red when she pulls it free. Your head hurts.

"Will it hurt?" You ask.

"I don't know." Rachel scratches at the side of her neck.

"It might." Chloe tries to shove her ring finger into her forehead.

"Should I be scared?" You wonder.

"No." Rachel says and brushes her hand over your jaw.

"Hella scared." Chloe laughs and squeezes your shoulder.

"I don't want to die." You sob and pull and tug on your restraints.

"No one does." Rachel kisses your cheek.

\-----

"Why are you doing this?" You beg. "You don't have to do this!"

"But I do." Jefferson says. He's grinning that evil smile and you want kick his face in. You can't so you settle for begging.

"No," you sob, "you don't. Please..."

"Begging won't work." Rachel says from over your shoulder.

"Try cursing." Chloe says as she tries to punch Jefferson.

"Begging won't work." Jefferson says as he adjusts his camera.

"Tell him to fuck off." Rachel supplies.

"Fuck off." You tell him.

"Louder!" Chloe cheers.

"Fuck you!" You scream. "Fuck you! Fuck you! Fuck you!"

You're tugging at the tape around your wrists and wiggling away from him.

"Back to sleep for you." Jefferson says and moves back to tray of drugs.

"Kick the cart!" Chloe yells.

You do and he screams.

"You  _bitch_!" He yells and stomps over to you. His foot swings back and it gets to personally meet your face.

\-----

When you wake up, there's an annoyed huff.

"Can't you just stay still?" Jefferson asks. "You would be the perfect model of you would just stay  _still_!"

"Well I didn't want  _this_!" You spit out. Your face hurts.

"He's a monster." Rachel chimes in.

"You're a monster!" You yell.

"Tell me something I don't know." He laughs. His knee presses into your stomach and his free hand holds your head to the ground.

"Let go of me!" You kick out. "Get off!"

Chloe and Rachel both try to pull him off, both of them keep phasing through him but they keep trying.

His knee just presses more into your stomach and you gasp for breath as his thumb swipes over your cheek and lips.

"Quiet." He whispers. "And you won't die tonight."

"Eat shit and die!" You rasp.

"Not yet."

Rachel and Chloe scream when the needle punctures your neck.

\-----

You can't move but you can cry.

Your head rolls around as Mark Jefferson straps you down to a chair.

Mark Jefferson sings along to 'Spick and Specks' as he combs his fingers through your hair and wipes your cheeks clean.

Beside you, Nathan Prescott is curled into a ball and whimpering.

Rachel and Chloe are standing behind Jefferson and crying.

"Am I going to die?" You ask again.

"Yes." Says Jefferson.

"Yes." Says Rachel.

"Yes." Says Chloe.

"Yes." Says Nathan.

Jefferson takes four more pictures before putting the camera down. Rope replaces the camera and he walks through Chloe and Rachel.

They don't reappear.

"Eat shit and die." You repeat as the rope goes around your neck.

You are scared and alone.

 

_Where are the girls_

_I left all behind_

_The spicks and the specks_

_Of the girls on my mind_

_Where is the sun_

_That shone on my head_

_The sun in my life_

_It is dead_

_It is dead_

 

You die scared and alone.

* * *

 

"Wait for me?" Victoria asks.

"Always." You grin.

After all, you're dead and you have all the time in the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 'Spicks and Specks' by Bee Gees. 
> 
> Both chapters were unbeta'ed.


End file.
